1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of information handling systems and more particularly to automated generation of configurable software images.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more information handling systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
It is known to install software and to perform tests on information handling systems before they are shipped to businesses or individual customers. A goal of software installation is to efficiently produce a useful, reliable information handling system. Software installation often includes loading a desired package of software onto the information handling, preparing appropriate environment variables for the computer, and preparing appropriate initialization files for the loaded software.
When installing hardware and software onto multiple information handling systems in a manufacturing environment, identifying a unique software or hardware order across multiple information handling systems is desirable. A software order is unique if all the software parts and parameters that are installed in a system are unique in combination. A hardware order is unique when all of the hardware parts of that order are unique in combination.
Installable images have been identified as a means for reducing system setup times while also providing well tested, self contained packages to be deployed as a whole to a client system. To support flexibility in a build to order environment, a large number of images need to be created and refreshed. This is especially important when a new version of an operating system becomes available.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system in which images are provided in a consistently reproducible fashion. It is also desirable to provide the ability of automatically generating images, thus allowing images to be created continuously and then tested when schedules permit.
In known systems, images are created using operators to setup a machine by hand using install CDs for the operating system and applications. The system is then configured as desired. The image is then created using a software tool such as that available from Norton under the trade designation “Ghost” or from Powerquest under the trade designation “Drive Image Pro (PQI)”.